This disclosure relates to molecular analysis of fluids, and particles and gases suspended in fluids. Embodiments of the invention include a mobile micro-lab that performs on-site chemical analysis for both laymen and professionals. Among the many applications of such general purpose chemical analysis, it is particularly suited for the analysis of organic chemicals. Therefore, applications include, but are not limited to, chemical analysis in biology, pharmaceuticals, medical diagnostic tests of body fluids, nutrition, pathogen and toxin detection. The capability of this micro-lab compares favorably with that of the combined capability of several sets of massive systems traditionally used within laboratories. Such massive analysis systems include, but are not limited to multiple electrophoresis systems including dye, stain and analysis post processing, isoelectric focusing and Raman and infra-red spectrometers.
Medical applications include preventative medicine, sports medicine, supplementary to check-ups, screening for pathologies, monitoring for feedback of treatments including medications, diet, exercise, sleep, misc. lifestyle changes, and general chemical analysis of body fluids. It provides individuals and remote health care providers with rapid, frequent and inexpensive access to vital health status information previously requiring long waits, fees and invasive procedures or denied by insurance. It enables remote- and self-testing and screening for many things formerly requiring blood and other body fluids to be sent to in a laboratory. Its software optionally uses supplementary contextual information such as time of day (subject's circadian cycle phase), medical history, intake including dietary, fluids, medications, stress levels, sleep, etc. to determine appropriate threshold limits for results. For example, fluctuation in glucose levels have afore been too high in interstitial tissue to use without calibration. However, by using contextual information such as dietary intake, activity monitoring, time of day (circadian cycle, body temperature, etc.) to determine statistical biases, relative glucose levels may be determined.
Its hardware platform serves a growing abundance of functions through software applications that run fluid biochemical analysis tests and analyze the resulting raw measurement data. The design is modular and scalable, allowing for very small footprints.
It can optionally extract interstitial fluid, the fluid lining the cells, to determine chemicals entering and leaving the cells. The interstitial fluid (IF) is extracted without discomfort using minimally invasive micro-needles. Other fluids such as blood, urine and saliva may be analyzed and compared with normative references, taking into account individual norms, history and circadian cycles. Results can show normal or abnormal constituent concentrations, in some cases for direct diagnosis and in others indicating further testing may be warranted and/or a physician or other health care professional should be consulted.
Information is gathered from the fluid specimen using a unique combination of molecular spectroscopy, multiple-pass dual electrophoresis, electrohydrodynamics, video capture, video processing including spatial spectral tracking, and adaptive measurement and analysis algorithms. With the default configuration, intermediate measurement results include multiple moving object Raman spectra (including from optional surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy or SERS) of free flow electrophoresis, multiple moving object infra-red spectra of gel electrophoresis (including optional gradient gel electrophoresis for determining pH of component). The electrophoretic voltage, current or power can be controlled as DC, pulsed, sinusoidal or arbitrary wave. The electric fields are applied across a selection of pairs of multiple electrodes located throughout the interconnected tube system. In the case of sinusoidal wave electric fields, the phase lag in velocity (for each particular frequency used) of each component may be used to further determine unique mobility characteristics. Advanced video processing algorithms, with patents pending, provide greatly enhanced spectral line resolution and accuracy, component tracking (including with neutral, positive and negative buoyancy or sediment), velocity measurement, band smearing, which enable the calculation of molecular charge, molecular weight, pH, dielectric and conductivity. Principal component analysis applied to individual spectra enables analysis of chemicals not sufficiently resolved by electrophoresis. An optional recycling tube can enables augmented separation nearly equivalent to arbitrarily long electrophoresis lanes.